Commonwealth offsets and protecting biodiversity Jo Bragg AELA 2013

Outline 1.Commonwealth legislation the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) 2.Seven requirements for successful offsets 3.Case examples 4.Comments

1.EPBC Act 1999 (Cth) Main Commonwealth legislation governing environmental protection. Most known mechanism is assessment and approvals process for various projects known as ‘actions’ if likely to have a significant impact on matters of national environmental significance MNES include eg listed species, Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area

1. EPBC Act 1999 (Cth) Through development assessment process, if impacts on the environment may not be avoided or mitigated then environmental offsets may be imposed to compensate for the residual adverse impacts of an action on the environment.

Habitat of protected population. Source: Photo from EPA 2006 Koala Plan, page 13

2. Seven requirements for successful offsets 1.Not replace or undermine existing environmental standards 2.Only after attempted to avoid and mitigate 3.Need result in no net loss 4.Offsets need environmental equivalence to damage 5.No time lags between securing offset and benefits 6.Enforceable 7.Independently monitored and transparent

Case example- Alpha coal mine EPBC 2008/46-48 Major mine and rail project in central Queensland Issues 1.Offsets need environmental equivalence to damage 2.No time lags between securing offset and benefits 3.Enforceable 4.Independently monitored and transparent

Case example-Curtis Island LNG Major LNG project within existing World Heritage Area near Gladstone EPBC 2008/ Not under mine existing standards 2.Offsets need environmental equivalence to damage 3.No time lags between securing offset and benefits 4.Enforceable 5.Independently monitored and transparent

Fixing the problem Projects that cause irreversible damage need to be refused Time lag between offsets coming into effect needs to be eliminated Constant issue of environmental equivalence.

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